nflfl 

IBlli 






WW 
IBl 

11111 
Hill 

IHil 



sSS 



■HP 






?H8K 



HffiTO 



liillli 
Illllili! 



. .. 



fflmm 



W&m 



1 IB ■ 

-•■ ''■■'■;•■ ! 



iini 



^ .& 

%■<* 



/**ife;S* /^^k^ /y^x ^° 









K* S * 






A* v ^ °' 

s * A <r> *o.*« 






& 



«5 <2* 



£°<* 



.o 









> ^ -J 






.,/\l^-/*j 









£ 9* 



& 















,* v ^ : 



A \ 



V 



* v 









,0° ^i 



<f 






<?\ 'I 

^ 

? A . i ' » ♦ ^ 









,y 












07 . 1 






°o 






s> 













(5 * -i 






4^ '-Wm^Z i9-r_ 



, » o „ o " .IT 




*\ ' 



^7 ^ ^ ' 



o " • „ <* 







rf>Sl^% *©o .^\<^'X»» " ' ,0*V" 




0* ..^ *©, 

^ : x^^^ 




• A v ^ 








J% 




■ * 4? <$> o^Vji&AK * aV -5* . * 



^ y ^. 










> f>" . V . o 







* 4.1 








4- V ** 

> ^> *o . k * A <. 




^ ^ .v 







***** :£Mk\ v^ ^ 



















A V r. " « . "<J> 



* 4> ^ 




0^ t - 1 ' 



O 











V ' : JK: ^ * '^ V :SS A / #fe V*^ \/ri 

/ ^ ••%^« ** v \ -S8K.' /\ -.^^.- ^% ~-WM: j>\ l^p. ; ^% -. 


















Bureau of Mines Information Circular/1986 







Availability of Rare-Earth, 
Yttrium, and Related Thorium 
Oxides— Market Economy 
Countries 

A Minerals Availability Appraisal 

By T. F. Anstett 







V 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



Information Circular 9111 



Availability of Rare-Earth, 
Yttrium, and Related Thorium 
Oxides— Market Economy 
Countries 

A Minerals Availability Appraisal 

By T. F. Anstett 




UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
Donald Paul Hodel, Secretary 

BUREAU OF MINES 
Robert C. Horton, Director 



TNaIS 

win i 



As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has 
responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This 
includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish 
and wildlife, preserving the environment and cultural values of our national parks and 
historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. 
The Department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that 
their development is in the best interests of all our people. The Department also has 
a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who 
live in island territories under U.S. administration. 




Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 






Anstett, T. F. (Terrance F.) 








Availability of rare-earth, yttrium, 
oxides— market economy countries. 


and related thorium 




(Information circular; 9111) 








Bibliography: p. 13 








Supt. of Docs, no.: I 28.27: 9111 








1. Earths, Rare. 2. Yttrium earths. 3. Thorium ores. I. Title, n. 
circular (United States. Bureau of Mines); 9111. 


Series: Information 


-TN295.U4 [TN490.A2] 622 s 


[553.4'94] 


86- 


-600187 



PREFACE 

The Bureau of Mines is assessing the worldwide availability of selected minerals 
of economic signficance, most of which are also critical minerals. The Bureau identifies, 
collects, compiles, and evaluates information on producing, developing, and explored 
deposits, and mineral processing plants worldwide. Objectives are to classify both 
domestic and foreign resources, to identify by cost evaluation those demonstrated 
resources that are reserves, and to prepare analyses of mineral availability. 

This report is one of a continuing series of reports that analyze the availability of 
minerals from domestic and foreign sources. Questions about, or comments on, these 
reports should be addressed to Chief, Division of Minerals Availability, Bureau of Mines, 
2401 E St., N.W., Washington, DC 20241. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Preface iii 

Abstract 1 

Introduction 2 

Methodology 2 

REO characteristics and uses 3 

Geology and mineralogy 3 

REO production and demand 4 

World production 4 

Demand outlook 4 

REO resources in evaluated properties 5 

Mining and beneficiation 7 

Mining 7 



Page 

Beneficiation : 7 

Postmill processing 8 

Processing industry structure 8 

Production costs 8 

REO availability 9 

Total availability 10 

Annual availability n 

Availability of individual REO, Y 2 3 , and Th0 2 . . 12 

Conclusions 13 

References 13 

Appendix.— Property descriptions 14 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



1. Minerals Availability program deposit evaluation procedure 2 

2. Mineral resource classification categories 5 

3. Total recoverable REO, by country and property status 7 

4. Total recoverable REO, by property status and DCFROR 10 

5. Cumulative potential annual REO availability, producers 11 

6. Potential annual REO availability, nonproducers 12 

A-l. Location map, Australian east coast properties 14 

A-2. Location map, Australian west coast properties 15 

A-3. Location map, Brazilian properties 16 

A-4. Location map, Canadian and U.S. properties 17 

A-5. Location map, Indian and Sri Lankan properties 18 



TABLES 



1. Individual REO contained in major source minerals 3 

2. World mine production of REO, 1981-84 4 

3. Ownership and status of evaluated REO properties 6 

4. Demonstrated REO resources of evaluated properties, January 1984 7 

5. Average mining and milling costs 9 

6. Average percentage of revenues by mineral concentrate type 9 

7. Market prices of mineral sand concentrates and associated minerals, January 1984 10 

8. Cumulative total REO potentially available 10 

9. Individual REO, Y 2 3 , and Th0 2 contained in evaluated properties 12 



VI 



UNIT OF MEASURE ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS REPORT 


km 


kilometer 


mt 


metric ton 


m 


meter 


mt/h 


metric ton per hour 


mm 


millimeter 


mt/yr 


metric ton per year 


yr 


year 


yr 


year 






AVAILABILITY OF RARE-EARTH, YTTRIUM, AND 
RELATED THORIUM OXIDES— MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES 



A Minerals Availability Appraisal 



By T. F. Anstett 1 

\ 



ABSTRACT 

The Bureau of Mines estimated the potential availability of rare-earth oxides (REO), 
including yttrium, and thorium, which is also contained in the rare-earth bearing 
minerals monazite and bastnasite, from 38 properties in market economy countries 
(MEC's). Only nine of the properties evaluated produce or would produce REO as the 
primary product; the others contain REO as a byproduct, chiefly from mineral sands 
operations recovering rutile, ilmenite, and zircon. 

Nearly 77% (2,578,000 mt) of the total 3,355,000 mt of recoverable REO evaluated 
is from producing properties. It is estimated that 21% (705,000 mt) of this total is from 
properties that could not realize a positive rate of return at the January 1984 market 
prices for the recovered commodities. 

At production capacities assumed for this evaluation, the amount of REO potentially 
available from producers ranges from an estimated 46,500 mt in 1986, to a peak of 50,900 
mt in 1992, to 49,900 mt by the year 2000. Total MEC production in 1984 was estimated 
at 40,700 mt. Assuming demand does not increase sharply, producing properties can 
continue to fulfill overall REO demand through at least the end of this century. 

'Geologist, Minerals Availability Field Office, Bureau of Mines, Denver, CO. 



INTRODUCTION 



The Bureau of Mines investigated the potential avail- 
ability of the rare earths, a group of chemically related 
commodities having important industrial applications. This 
report addresses the availability of rare-earth oxides (REO) 
(and yttrium oxide) in concentrate from 29 foreign and 9 
domestic properties. The amount of thorium contained in 
monazite, an important thorium source material, was also 
estimated. Detailed information concerning domestic 
thorium resources and processing methods and costs is 
contained in other publications (1-2). 2 

Unlike that of most mineral commodities, world 
production of rare earths is dominated by one mine, 



'Italic numbers in parentheses refer to items in the list of references 
preceding the appendix at the end of this report. 



Mountain Pass, CA, which typically accounts for about half 
of annual world production. Mountain Pass is also the only 
MEC operation that produces the mineral bastnasite as a 
primary product. Nearly all of the remaining MEC 
production of rare earths is from the mineral monazite, a 
byproduct of processing mineral sands for the titanium 
minerals, rutile and ilmenite, and for the zirconium 
mineral, zircon. 

Domestic properties were evaluated by personnel of the 
Bureau's Field Operations Centers, and foreign data 
collection and cost estimation were performed under 
contract by Pincock, Allen and Holt Inc., Tucson, AZ; 
personnel of the Bureau's Minerals Availability Field 
Office, Denver, CO, evaluated the data and performed the 
economic analyses. 



METHODOLOGY 



Because of the byproduct nature of a large percentage 
of world rare-earth production, and the fact that the rare- 
earth-bearing mineral monazite is produced as an integral 
part of the recovery process of the titanium minerals (rutile 
and ilmenite), the most practical investigative approach to 
assess rare-earth availability is in terms of its availability 
as a function of overall profitability of the properties 
evaluated. Consequently, availability results are presented 
as a function of a measure of profitability of each property, 
as indicated by its discounted-cash-flow rate of return 
(DCFROR), defined as the rate of return that makes the 
present worth of cash flows from an investment equal to 
the present worth of all after-tax investments (3). A 0% 
DCFROR is commonly considered as the "breakeven" point 
for an operation. 

An outline of the evaluation procedure followed for this 
study is shown in figure 1. The analysis methodology is as 
follows: 

1. The quantity and grade of rare-earth resources were 
evaluated in relation to physical and technological 



identification 

and 

selection 

of deposits 



Tonnage 

and grade 

determination 



Engineering 
and cost 
evaluation 



I Industries 

Location 

System 

(MILS) 

data 

MAP 

computer 

data 

base 



Deposit 

report 

preparation 



MAP 

permanent 

deposit 

files 



conditions that affect production from each property as of 
the study date, January 1984. 

2. Appropriate mining and processing methods were 
determined for producing operations and proposed for 
undeveloped properties. Related capital and operating costs 
to process material to a marketable concentrate were 
estimated. Operating costs include transportation to deliver 
concentrates to port or process plant. It was assumed that 
all operations were 100% equity financed. 

3. An economic analysis of each operation was 
performed to determine the DCFROR. Revenues generated 
for each property's cash flow were based on January 1984 
prices of commodities that are or could be produced at each 
property. 

4. All properties were aggregated onto total and annual 
availability tables and curves, which show the amount of 
recoverable rare earths, in terms of REO, potentially 
available at various DCFROR's. Availability of the 
individual rare earths (as REO), yttrium (as Y-jOs), and 
thorium (as Th0 2 ), are also shown. 



Taxes, 

royalties, 

cost indexes, 

prices, etc... 



Data 

selection and 

validation 



Variable and 

parameter 

adjustments 



Economic 
analysis 



Sensitivity 
analysis 



Data 



Availability 
curves 



Analytical 
reports 



AJ 



JJ 



Data 



Availability 
curves 



Analytical 
reports 



FIGURE 1 .—Minerals Availability program deposit evaluation procedure. 



REO CHARACTERISTICS AND USES 



The rare-earth elements, or lanthanides, are 15 
chemically similar elements with atomic numbers 57-71. 
They are lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, 
promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, 
dysprosium, holmium, erbium thulium, ytterbium, and 
lutetium. Promethium, a fission product of uranium, has 
no known naturally occurring stable isotopes. Although not 
a member of the lanthanide series, yttrium (atomic number 
39) is grouped with the rare-earth elements because it 
typically occurs with them in nature and has similar 
chemical properties. 

The rare-earth elements have been classified into two 
general groups: the light or cerium subgroup, comprising 
the first seven elements listed above (atomic numbers 
57-63); and the heavy or yttrium subgroup, comprising the 
elements with atomic numbers 64-71 as well as yttrium. 
Despite its low atomic weight, yttrium is categorized with 
the heavy rare earths because its occurence, ionic radius, 
and behavioral properties are closer to those of the heavier 
rare-earth elements than to the lighter group. 

Important industrial applications of the rare earths in- 
clude: petroleum cracking catalysts; metallurgical (in- 
cluding iron and steel additives, alloys, and mischmetal); 
ceramics and glass (including polishing compounds and 
glass additives); and miscellaneous, including phosphors, 
electronics, nuclear energy, lighting, and research. Among 
these general use categories, petroleum catalysts accounted 
for 65% of U.S. consumption in 1982, metallurgical uses ac- 
counted for 20%, and ceramics and glass accounted for 12%; 
miscellaneous uses accounted for 3% (4). 

One of the most important applications of rare earths 
is in catalytic activities. Mixtures of lanthanum, neo- 
dymium, and praseodymium chlorides are used in catalysts 
for petroleum refining. Between 1% and 5% rare-earth 



chloride is added to zeolite catalysts to increase their effi- 
ciency in the conversion of crude oil to petroleum products. 
The demand for rare-earth chlorides for cracking catalysts 
is on the increase, and it is believed that more companies 
will become involved in their production in the future (5, 
p. 34). 

Mischmetal, produced by the electrolysis of anhydrous 
mixed rare-earth chlorides, has applications in the iron and 
steel and the lighter flint industries. In the iron and steel 
industry, the physical and rolling properties of the metal 
are improved by the use of mischmetal. Rare-earth treated, 
high-strength, low-alloy steels are being increasingly used 
in the automobile industry as structural components and 
in lightweight sheet applications (6, p. 740.) 

Rare-earth metals such as cerium, praseodymium, 
neodymium, samarium, dysprosium, and mischmetal are 
used in the manufacture of permanent magnets. These 
magnets, which are stronger than other magnets, are used 
in electric wristwatches, tachometers, traveling wave tubes, 
line printers, and electric motors and generators (6, p. 742). 
The most powerful magnets known are made from 
neodymium plus iron and boron. The rapidly growing rare- 
earth permanent magnet business is estimated to be worth 
$100 million annually (7). 

The energy concerns of the 1970's spurred development 
of more efficient automobile engines, experimental models 
of which require the use of yttria-stabilized zirconia for 
elevated temperature applications, and development of 
lanthanum-nickel intermetallics for solid-state hydrogen 
storage and processing. Rare-earth compounds are also used 
in the glass industry in a variety of applications including 
polishing, decolorizing, and the manufacture of special 
glasses. 



GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY 



The rare-earth elements and yttrium are essential con- 
stituents in more than 100 minerals; however, only a few 
minerals occur in sufficient concentration to qualify as ore. 
Monazite, bastnasite, and xenotime are the most important 
rare-earth-bearing ore minerals. Monazite, a rare-earth 
phosphate, can contain approximately 70% combined REO, 
including 2% Y 2 3 . Most monazite concentrates range from 
55% to 65% contained REO. Table 1 shows average concen- 
trations of the various REOs in the important ore minerals. 

Bastnasite, a fluorocarbonate mineral, can contain ap- 
proximately 75% REO and very minor amounts of Y 2 3 
(0.1%). Bastnasite flotation concentrates average approx- 
imately 60% REO, but the concentrate can be upgraded to 
70% REO by acid leaching and to 85% REO by a combina- 
tion of leaching and calcining. Molycorp Inc., the world's 
largest producer of bastnasite from its Mountain Pass prop- 
erty in California, produces bastnasite concentrate at all 
three grades. 

Xenotime, an yttrium phosphate mineral, is found in 
the same geological environment as monazite and is a ma- 
jor source of yttrium. Among world rare-earth occurrences, 
those of China and Malaysia are the most significant source 
of yttrium-bearing xenotime, which is produced as a 
byproduct of tin placer mining. 



Among other commercial mineral sources of rare earths 
and yttrium are apatite and multiple-oxide minerals such 
as euxenite and loparite. Although these minerals are 
mined for their REO content and constitute a substantial 
resource, they presently account for a comparatively minor 
percentage of REO production. 



Table 1.— Individual REO contained in major 
source minerals (5, p. 19) 

(Percent of total REO) 

Oxide Monazite Bastnasite Xenotime 

Y 2 3 2 0.1 60 

La 2 3 23 32 \ 

Nd 2 3 19 13 I 

Sm 2 3 3 .5 1.2 

Eu 2 O a .1 -1 -01 

Gd 2 3 1.7 .15 3.6 

Tb 4 7 -16 1 

Dy 2 3 5 7.5 

Ho 2 3 .09 2 

Er 2 3 13 6.2 

Tm 2 3 .01 127 

Yb 2 3 .06 6 

Lu 2 3 .006 -63 

NOTE.— Columns do not total 100% because of independent rounding. 



Heavy mineral sands occurring in modern placer 
deposits are the major source of monazite; the mineral nor- 
mally is produced only as a byproduct of rutile, ilmenite, 
and zircon mining. The placers are formed by the natural 
processes of weathering, transportation, and concentration 
at a site of accumulation of heavy minerals whose origin 
is a primary source rock. Beach deposits are the most signifi- 
cant commercial placers. The largest accumulations exist 
where a coastline is indented and the beach is gently slop- 
ing. Important deposits of this type occur in Australia, In- 
dia, Brazil, the Republic of South Africa, and the United 
States. Similar deposits occur in southeast Asia, where 
small amounts of xenotime are recovered as a byproduct 
of tin mining. 



An important source of REO is carbonatite deposits, ig- 
neous assemblages of primarily carbonate minerals occur- 
ring as intrusions associated with undersaturated alkali ig- 
neous complexes formed along major rift zones. The most 
significant commercial carbonatite complex is at Mountain 
Pass, CA, which supplies much of the world's bastnasite 
and accounts for nearly half of the world's annual REO pro- 
duction and more than 60% of MEC production. Another 
important world bastnasite deposit is Baiyen-ebo in the Nei 
Monggol Autonomous Region of China. Other carbonatite 
complexes, such as Palabora in the Republic of South Africa, 
are known to contain large amounts of REO-bearing 
minerals, but none has produced commercially significant 
quantities on a sustained basis. 



REO PRODUCTION AND DEMAND 



WORLD PRODUCTION 

Estimated production of REO from major world pro- 
ducers for the years 1981—84 is shown in table 2. The 
United States is the world's leading supplier of REO, almost 
all of which is from Molycorp Inc.'s Mountain Pass, CA, 
bastnasite operation; the United States also produces a 
small amount of REO from monazite annually. Table 2 in- 
cludes U.S. bastnasite production only. Australia is the 
world's leading producer of monazite, as a byproduct of 
heavy mineral sands (chiefly ilmenite, rutile, and zircon) 
mining. Because of its byproduct status, Australian 
monazite production depends upon its relatively low and 
extremely variable composition in the heavy mineral sands, 
and the economics of the marginal cost of recovering 
monazite. 

Australian monazite and xenotime producers presently 
sell all of their production. The country has no processing 
facilities beyond initial beneficiation, and the monazite con- 
centrate is generally exported to the United States and 
Europe (mainly France) for processing. Exports have in- 
creased steadily during the past few years. 

A particular problem relative to monazite concentrate 
marketing is the presence of radioactive thorium that 
typically occurs in monazite, generally in amounts on the 
order of 6% to 7% Th0 2 . Currently, there is only limited 
demand for thorium, and its presence in monazite concen- 
trates is generally regarded as a nuisance because 
safeguards must be taken and regulatory standards main- 
tained while handling the material. Brazil and India do not 
allow the export of monazite because of its thorium content 
and are stockpiling thorium for possible future use as a 
nuclear fuel (energy source). Consequently, both countries 
have integrated operations that separate the rare-earth 
metals and thorium prior to export of the rare earths. 
NUCLEMON, a Brazilian Government-owned entity, mines 
heavy minerals sand chiefly for its monazite (thorium) con- 
tent. From a revenue perspective, the monazite would be 
considered a byproduct of ilmenite and rutile production. 

Probably the most significant recent development in 
REO production is the emergence of China as the world's 
third largest producer, after the United States and 
Australia. The country is believed to possess the world's 
largest REO reserves (5, p. 23). The Bureau of Mines 
estimates China's reserve base at 38 million mt REO, or 
nearly 80% of the total world reserve base (8). Annual pro- 
duction figures are not available for China, but 1985 pro- 
duction was estimated to be about 10,000 mt REO. 



Table 2.— World mine production of REO, 1981-84 (8) 

(Metric tons) 

Country 1981 1982~ 1983 1984 

MEC: 

Australia 7,430 5,229 7,975 9,189 

Brazil 1,452 1,061 1,100 1,100 

India 2,201 4,000 2,200 2,200 

Malaysia 165 320 187 2,563 

Thailand 84 59 77 172 

United States 1 ... . 17,094 17,501 17,083 25,311 

Other 109 167 165 170 

^.T 0131 MEC 28,535 28,337 28,787 40,705 

CPEC 2 : 

Chy 13 NA NA 6,000 8,000 

otner NA NA 1,500 1,500 

World total 3 . . . . NA NA 36,000 50,000 

NA Not available. 

1 1ncludes bastnasite production only. 

2 Centrally planned economy countries. 

3 Rounded. 



DEMAND OUTLOOK 

The solvent extraction technology, perfected in the 
1960's for europium and yttrium oxides, has been expanded 
to commercial-scale separation and purification of at least 
11 of the 15 rare-earth elements occurring in bastnasite, 
monazite, and xenotime. Most rare earths presently used 
by industry are consumed in the form of compounds con- 
taining special mixtures of rare-earth elements. On a 
percentage basis, the use of compounds is decreasing in 
favor of specific "mixes" for various end uses. Demand for 
separated and often high-purity rare earths has increased 
in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue. 

One of the major developments in the rare-earths in- 
dustry is the increasing number of uses for neodymium, 
which is in strong demand for lasers and magnets. While 
the future availability of this element could be a matter 
of concern given its increasing demand, neodymium is the 
third most abundant of the rare-earth elements and should 
be available in sufficient quantities to satisfy all expected 
demand. Shortages could occur because of the processors' 
need to balance the output of the commercially important 
rare-earth elements to operate profitably (5, p. 36). 

Presently, a shortage in samarium is being experienced 
because processors do not have sufficient capacity. The de- 
mand for the heavy rare earths, including yttrium, has in- 
creased greatly for use in a variety of high-technology ap- 
plications. Demand is particularly strong in Japan. The 
large demand for yttrium used in lasers and phosphors is 



one factor that has prompted recent increases in the price 
of xenotime. Another market that is presently experienc- 
ing short supply is rare-earth chlorides; the strong demand 
is likely to continue (5, p. 36). 

Traditional markets for mischmetal, a natural alloy of 
several of the rare earths, are the iron and steel and lighter 
flint industries. The iron and steel industry has been 
adversely affected by the economic recession of the early 
1980's. Additionally, recent advances in technology have 



reduced the requirement for mischmetal, and demand levels 
for the material are not likely to return to pre-1982 levels. 
Presently, most of the heavy rare earths derived from 
monazite processing are in high demand. Yttrium concen- 
trate, because of its relatively high yttrium content (60% 
Y 2 O s ) and high content of other heavy rare earths, is also 
in great demand. Xenotime is not as readily available as 
monazite, primarily because it is not as abundant and oc- 
curs in fewer commercial deposits. 



REO RESOURCES IN EVALUATED PROPERTIES 



A total of 38 properties were evaluated for this study. 
Evaluation of each property was performed on resource 
values sufficiently defined to be considered demonstrated 
according to the definitions established by the Bureau of 
Mines and U.S. Geological Survey (9) (fig. 2). Resource 
estimates for properties were available from published data, 
company personnel, and/or others familiar with the 
property. 

A general description of individual properties evaluated 
is included in the appendix. Table 3 contains pertinent in- 
formation for the 38 evaluated properties. Table 4 and figure 
3 present a summary of demonstrated resources, by coun- 
try and property status. 

Of the 38 properties evaluated, only 9 produce or can 
produce rare earths as the primary product. Included in the 
nine properties are five in Brazil that, from a revenue stand- 
point, may be considered to be titanium properties, but are 
or could be mined primarily for their monazite content. All 
remaining properties evaluated can or could produce rare 
earths as a byproduct, primarily of processing titanium. The 



three Elliot Lake (Canada) properties, all producers of 
uranium, could recover rare earths as a byproduct by sol- 
vent extraction from a barren uranium solution. These three 
properties, plus the Silica Mine in Tennessee and Richards 
Bay in the Republic of South Africa, are producers that 
presently do not recover rare earths. 

The total amount of REO potentially available annually 
from the 17 producers evaluated is nearly 50,000 mt at pro- 
duction capacities of those properties. Of the countries 
whose annual production is shown in table 2, only Malay- 
sian and Thai producers have been excluded from this 
evaluation because of a paucity of rare-earth resource data 
for those properties at the time of this evaluation. However, 
these countries produced about 2,500 mt REO in 1984 (table 
2). 

Producing properties that recover rare earths as "a 
byproduct of titanium processing account for 961,000 mt 
recoverable REO, or 29% of the total recoverable REO in 
all properties evaluated. Nonproducing properties that could 
recover rare earths as a byproduct of titanium mining con- 



Cumulative 
production 


IDENTIFIED RESOURCES 


UNDISCOVERED RESOURCES 


Demonstrated 


Inferred 


Probability range 


Measured 


Indicated 


Hypothetical Speculative 




ECONOMIC 


Res 


erve 


Inferred 

reserve 

base 


1 

+ 

-+- - 
1 


MARGINALLY 
ECONOMIC 


ba 


se 


SUB- 
ECONOMIC 




i 





Other 
occurrences 



Includes nonconventional and low-grade materials 



FIGURE 2.— Mineral resource classification categories. 



Table 3.— Ownership and status of evaluated REO properties 



Property 1 



Status* 



Owner 



Deposit 3 
type 



Mining 
method 



Products* 



Australia: 

Allied Eneabba 

Cable Sands 

Capel 

Cataby 

Cooloola 

Eneabba 

Fraser Island 

Jurien Bay-Cooljarloo . . . 

Munmorah 

North Capel 

North Stradbroke (AMC) 
North Stradbroke (CRL) . 
Yoganup Extended 



Brazil: 

Alcobaca* 
Anchieta* 
Aracruz* . 
Buena* . . 
Serra* . . . 



Canada: Elliot Lake: 

Denison 

Quirke-Panel . . . 
Stanleigh 



India: 

Chavara (IRE) . . . 
Chavara (KMML) 
Manavalakuruchi 
Orissa-Chatrapur 
Ranchi-Purulia* . 



Malawi: Kangankunde* 



Republic of South Africa: 
Richards Bay 



Sri Lanka: Pulmoddai 



United States: 

Bear Valley 

Big Creek* 

Brunswick-Altamaha . . 
Gold Fork-Little Valley 
Green Cove Springs . 

Mountain Pass* 

Oak Grove 

Powderhorn 

Silica Mine 



P 

P 

P 

Exp 

PP 

P 

PP 

PP 

PP 

P 

P 

P 

P 



Exp 

P 

Exp 

P 

Exp 



PS 
P5 
P5 



p 
p 
p 

Dev 
Exp 

Exp 



PS 

P 



PP 

PP 

Exp 

Exp 

P 

P 

Exp 

Exp 

P5 



(AMC). 



Allied Eneabba Ltd 

Cable Sands Pty. Ltd 

Associated Minerals Consolidated Ltd. 

Metals Exploration, Alliance .... 

State of Queensland, Australian government 

AMC 

Murphyores, Dillingham 

Western Mining Corp 

AMC 

State of Western Australia 

AMC 

Consolidated Rutile Ltd 

Westralian Sands Ltd 



Brazilian Government . 

..do 

..do 

..do 

. . do 



Denison Mines Ltd. 

Rio Algom Ltd 

..do 



India Rare Earths Ltd. (IRE) 

Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. (KMML) . 

IRE 

..do 

Indian Government 



Lonhro Ltd 

QIT, Union Corp.; IDL . . 
Sri Lankan Government 



Bear Valley Industries . 

Several 

Union Camp Corp 

Several 

AMC 

Molycorp Inc 

Ethyl Corp 

Buttes Gas and Oil Co. 
Tennessee Silica Sand 



PI 
PI 

PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 



PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 



Hr 
Hr 
Hr 



PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 

Hr 



PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
PI 
Hr 
PI 
Hr 
PI 



Strip level 
Dredge . . . 

..do 

..do 

..do 

Strip level 
Dredge . . . 
Strip level 
Dredge . . . 
Strip level 
Dredge . . . 

..do 

Open pit . . 



.do. 
.do. 
do. 
.do. 
.do. 



Room and pillar 

..do 

..do 



Strip level 
Dredge . . . 
Strip level 
Dredge . . . 
Strip level 



Open pit. 



Dredge . . . 
Strip level 



Dredge . . 
..do.... 
..do.... 
..do.... 
..do.... 
Open pit. 
Dredge . . 
Open pit. 
..do.... 



R, I, L, Z, RE 
I, R, Z, RE 
I, R, L, SR, RE 
IR, I, Z, RE 
R, I, Z, RE 
I, R, L, SR, RE 
R, I, Z, RE 
R, I, L, Z, RE 
R, I, Z, RE 
I. R, L, Z, RE 
R, I, Z, RE 
R, I, Z, RE 
I, R, L, Z, RE 



RE, 
RE, 
RE, 
RE, 
RE, 



Z, R 
Z, R 
Z, R 
Z, R 
Z, R 



U, RE 
U, RE 
U, RE 



R, I, L, Z, RE 
R, I, L, Z, RE 
I, R, SR, Z, RE 
R, I, L, Z, RE 
RE, I, Z, R, S 

RE 



S, R, Fe, Z, RE 
I, R, Z, RE 



I, RE, G, C 

RE, I, G, Z 

R, M, Z, RE 

I, Z, RE, Au, G 

R, I, L, Z, RE 

RE 

I, R, Z, RE 

P, RE 

SS, I, R, L, Z 



RE 



1 Properties that do or could produce REO as the primary product are identified with an asterisk. 

2 P = producer; PP = past producer; Exp = explored prospect; Dev = developing property. 

3 PI = placer; Hr = hard rock. 

"The first product listed was assumed to be the primary product for this study. Au = gold; C = columbium; Fe = magnetite; G = garnet; 
trate; L = leucoxene concentrate; M = mixed ilmenite-leucoxene concentrate; P = perovskite concentrate; R = rutile concentrate; RE 
S = titanium slag; SR = synthetic rutile concentrate; SS = silica sand; Z = zircon concentrate; U = uranium. 

5 Producers that do not presently recover REO. 



= ilmenite concen- 
: REO concentrate; 



tain 477,000 mt, or 14% of the total recoverable REO in all 
properties evaluated. Titanium properties thus account for 
43% of the total recoverable REO in all properties evaluated 
for this study. 

Producers that recover REO-bearing minerals as the 
primary commodity contain 1,566,000 mt, or 47% of the 
total recoverable REO in all properties evaluated. Moun- 
tain Pass accounts for nearly the entire amount. Non- 
producers that could recover REO as the primary product 
contain 337,000 mt, or the remaining 10% of total REO con- 
tained in all properties evaluated. 

In terms of country totals (table 4), U.S. properties con- 
tain 1,994,000 mt recoverable REO, or 59% of the total in 
all properties evaluated. Mountain Pass accounts for nearly 
80% of the U.S. total, and nearly half of the total in all pro- 
perties evaluated. Australian properties, all of which do or 
could produce REO (primarily in monazite) as a byproduct 
of titanium mining, contain 303,000 mt REO, or about 9% 



of the total. Of the total amount of REO contained in 
Australian properties, producers account for 85%. 

Brazilian properties account for only 15,000 mt re- 
coverable REO, which is less than 1% of the total in all prop- 
erties evaluated; producers account for 67% of total recov- 
erable REO in Brazilian properties evaluated. 

The three Elliot Lake, Canada, operations that could 
produce byproduct rare earths contain 14,000 mt recov- 
erable REO, less than 1% of the total. 

Properties in India and Sri Lanka contain 815,000 mt 
recoverable REO, or 24% of the total in all properties 
evaluated. Of this, the five producers, all primary titanium 
properties, account for 86% of the total. 

Malawi and the Republic of South Africa contain a total 
of 214,000 mt recoverable REO, all from nonproducers. 
Richards Bay, in the Republic of South Africa, is a titanium 
producer that does not presently recover monazite. 



Table 4.— Demonstrated rare-earth resources of evaluated 
properties, January 1984 

Ore Feed 
Country and status Number of treated, grade, Recoverable 

properties 10 6 mt % REO REO, 1Q3 m t 

Australia: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total Australia . . 

Brazil: 

Producers 

Nonproducers .... 
Total Brazil 

Canada: Nonproducers 

India and Sri Lanka: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total India and 
Sri Lanka 6 

Malawi and Republic of 
South Africa: Non- 
producers 

United States: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total United States 

Grand total 38 



8 
5 


1,214 
1,218 


0.04 
.01 


259 

44 


13 


2,432 


.03 


303 


2 
3 


3 
2 


.43 
.34 


10 
5 


5 
3 


5 

241 


.39 
.01 


15 
14 


5 
1 


553 
86 


.37 
.19 


700 
115 



639 



.35 



815 



2 


626 


.07 


214 


2 

7 


107 
876 


2.09 
.13 


1,558 
436 


9 


983 


.34 


1,994 




United Stotes 



4,926 



.14 



3,355 



FIGURE 3.— Total recoverable REO, by country and property 
status. 



MINING AND BENEFICIATION 



MINING 



BENEFICIATION 



Since commercial amounts of rare-earth-bearing 
minerals occur in placers, veins, and igneous intrusive com- 
plexes, mining methods include placer (predominantly 
dredging), open pit, and underground. 

For heavy mineral operations recovering monazite as 
a byproduct, such as those in Australia and India, dredg- 
ing is the most common mining method employed. Floating 
cutter-head dredges are the most common type of machinery 
used if the mineral sands are loose and occur at depths of 
less than 20 m. Preliminary concentrating occurs on the 
dredge, or on barges alongside, using Reichert cones, spirals, 
jigs, tables, and similar equipment. 

Where floating dredges are not practicable (e.g., deposits 
that are several kilometers inland and where water is in 
short supply), or the size, shape, and lithology of the ore 
body are impractical for dredges, other mining methods are 
employed. Draglines, front-end loaders, and trucks are used 
in most cases. 

The only producing open-pit hardrock operation 
evaluated for this study is Mountain Pass, where bastnasite 
ore is produced from a tabular carbonatite intrusive ore 
body. Kangankunde, an undeveloped hardrock property in 
Malawi, would probably also utilize open-pit mining 
methods. 

The only underground operations evaluated for this 
study were the Elliot Lake district uranium mines in On- 
tario, Canada. There, room-and-pillar methods are used to 
extract uranium ore from quartz pebble conglomerates. 
Monazite occurs as a secondary mineral in the uranium ore. 



The Mountain Pass operation utilizes flotation to proc- 
ess the bastnasite ore. Kangankunde, the other hardrock 
property evaluated, would also use flotation methods. In- 
itial concentration of placer sands occurs in wet mills, with 
final concentration and mineral separation in dry mills. In 
some cases, prior to wet concentration, ore goes through a 
feed preparation stage (to wash clay particles), which can 
include a number of separate processes depending on the 
amount of clay and throughput rate. A wet screening stage 
is used to prepare suitably sized feed for the wet gravity 
concentrator. 

Wet mills can be land-based or floating. In a typical 
operation, ore from a dredge or slurry sump is pumped at 
25% to 30% solids to the wet mill, where ore is fed into one 
or more stages of Humphreys spirals and/or Reichert cone 
concentrators, producing a preliminary heavy mineral con- 
centrate. Rough, heavy mineral concentrate from the wet 
mill is transported, usually by truck or barge, to the dry 
mill for further processing. 

Dry mills use various stages of magnetic, electrostatic, 
and gravity separation techniques to produce ilmenite, 
rutile, leucoxene, zircon, and monazite concentrates. The 
specific flowsheet of a dry mill depends on the type of ore 
and the heavy mineral assemblage to be recovered. In 
general, a dry mill separation process consists of high- 
tension electrostatic separators to separate conducting from 
nonconducting minerals. The relatively nonmagnetic 
monazite is separated from the more magnetic zircon 
fraction. 



A unique beneficiation process was used at Denison 
Mines' Elliot Lake operation in Canada, where a Y 2 3 -REO 
concentrate was produced as a byproduct from the barren 
uranium solution. The process included leaching, solvent 
extraction, and precipitation to produce a 63.5% concen- 
trate, of which Y 2 3 is the major component, averaging 40% 
in the concentrate. 



POSTMILL PROCESSING 

Solvent extraction is the most important process used 
to separate the rare earths. The process is based on the dif- 
ferent affinities of the rare-earth elements between a solu- 
tion of rare earths in water and a chelating agent in an 
organic solvent. The stages involved in the production proc- 
ess are (1) chemical reduction, (2) removal of non-rare-earth 
elements, (3) fractionation of rare-earth mixtures, and (4) 
precipitation, calcination, and grinding. The procedure can 
include several stages; for example, Rhone-Poulenc's La 
Rochelle, France, chemical separation plant is equipped 
with more than 1,000 mixers-settlers to achieve the parti- 
tion of the rare-earth elements. A comprehensive discus- 
sion of chemical separation techniques and processes is pro- 
vided by Subbarao and Wallace (10). 

One disadvantage of the solvent extraction technique 
is that operating costs for small-capacity units are high 
because the same number of personnel are required 
regardless of plant size. Consequently, the production of rare 
earths in small demand (e.g., holmium, erbium) is more 
costly than that for lanthanum or yttrium. Rhone-Poulenc 
uses a chromatographic ion exchange process using resins 
from small-scale rare-earth separations that do not warrant 
setting up a full-scale solvent extraction circuit (11). 



PROCESSING INDUSTRY STRUCTURE 

The rare-earth industries in Brazil, Malaysia, and India 
are to a large extent vertically integrated operations 
because the governments of those countries prohibit the ex- 
port of monazite. Five European countries (France, the 
Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Norway, and the 
United Kingdom) process rare earths. Japan has a large 
number of companies that process rare earths from all cur- 
rently produced rare-earth-bearing mineral ores. In spite 
of its importance as the world's leading monazite producer, 
Australia presently has no rare-earth separation facilities. 



However, Allied Eneabba has announced plans to construct 
a plant to process 12,000 mt/yr monazite and 100 mt/yr 
xenotime (12). 

Rhone-Poulenc of France is a major world REO proc- 
essor. It processes both monazite and xenotime, but 
xenotime composes only about 1% of the raw material (5, 
p. 28). The company has a plant at La Rochelle on the 
French Atlantic coast, and in 1981 it opened a second pro- 
duction plant at Freeport, TX, with a planned production 
capacity of 4,000 mt/yr, which will effectively double the 
company's overall capacity when it reaches completion. The 
Freeport plant produces light rare-earth compounds from 
an intermediate rare-earth hydroxide concentrate, and the 
heavy rare-earth residue is sent to La Rochelle for final 
separation into high-purity rare earths. Most of the thorium 
produced in the process is sold in nitrate form for gas man- 
tle manufacture and thorium metal production; however, 
a small quantity of Th0 2 is sold to the nuclear industries 
in several countries. 

In the United States, Molycorp Inc., the world's largest 
producer of REO from its Mountain Pass operation, is a fully 
integrated company, producing rare-earth concentrates, 
compounds, and metals at its plants in York and 
Washington, PA, Louviers, CO, and at Mountain Pass, CA. 
In 1982, Molycorp started up an additional rare-earth 
separation circuit at its Mountain Pass complex for the 
production of samarium, gadolinium, lanthanum, prase- 
odymium, and neodymium oxides. 

In addition to Molycorp, an important U.S. rare-earth 
producer is the Davison Chemical Division of W. R. Grace 
and Co., which imports monazite from Australia to its plant 
at Chattanooga, TN, for the production of rare-earth 
chlorides. The chlorides are produced solely for internal use 
in the manufacture of petroleum cracking catalysts (5, p. 
26). Two companies, Ronson Metal Corp. and Reactive 
Metals and Alloys Corp. (Remacor), produce mischmetal at 
processing plants in the United States. 

Although this study is restricted to MEC countries, an 
important development in the rare-earth processing market 
has been the recent emergence of China as a major producer. 
The country has the world's largest reserves of contained 
REO, and since the 1970's it has become a major processor. 
The Yao Lung Chemical Plant in Shanghai can process and 
separate 2,000 mt/yr REO, primarily from monazite. Prod- 
ucts available for export include phosphor preparations (e.g., 
Y 2 3 and EujOj) and magnetic materials such as samarium 
and samarium-cobalt alloys (5, p. 24). The country exports 
to Europe, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan. 



PRODUCTION COSTS 



Operating costs and capital investments for the ap- 
propriate mining, milling, and transportation methods were 
obtained or estimated for each property evaluated. In most 
cases, actual costs were available from published material, 
company personnel, other persons familiar with the opera- 
tion, or from confidential, unpublished studies. 

Total operating cost is a combination of direct and in- 
direct costs. Direct costs include production and 
maintenance labor, materials, payroll overhead, and 
utilities. Indirect operating costs include administration, 
facilities maintenance and supplies, research, and technical 
and clerical labor. 

Capital expenditures were obtained or estimated for ex- 
ploration, acquisition, development, and mine and mill 



plant and equipment. Capital expenditures for mining and 
milling facilities include the costs of mobile and stationary 
equipment, construction, engineering, infrastructure, and 
working capital. 

Operating and capital costs for "typical" Australian 
heavy mineral sands operations are induded in a recent 
Bureau report (13). Mine and mill operating costs for 
evaluated properties are shown in table 5. Costs are weight- 
averaged on the basis of annual ore capacity. It would be 
meaningless to present operating costs in terms of REO 
product, since nearly all properties produce REO as a 
byproduct of titanium mining. In fact, for several proper- k 
ties, REO is a relatively minor byproduct in terms of total 
revenues. 



Table 5.— Average mining and milling costs The four Indian producers and one Sri Lankan producer 

(January 1984 J.S. dollars per metric ton ore) together have a weighted-average mining cost of $0.53/mt 

Country and status M^e" Miii irtri * nd a "j 111 ^ c ° st of $1.28/mt ore. The two Brazilian pro- 

— — ducers, Anchieta and Buena, both of which are strip level 

Australia: operations with relatively small capacities (40,000 to 80,000 

Producers 0.77 0.40 1.17 mt/yr), have weighted-average mining and milling costs of 

Nonproducers .74 .48 1.22 *i oo/ * j a>i oc/ a x- 1 1 mv t> •?• 

$1.82/mt and $1.85/mt ore, respectively. The Brazilian non- 
Brazil: producers could be brought into production at comparable 

No°n d p U rodu S cers '. '. .'. ]il 1 Jl ill operating costs ($1.99/mt mine, $1.92/mt mill); however, the 

capital expense necessary to build the mill and develop the 
lndia producers anka: 53 28 81 deposits, and especially the high transportation costs 

Nonproducers ........................ 2^05 4^35 6!40 associated with shipping the concentrates to port or process 

.... , ~ ... plant in Sao Paulo (as much as 1,200 km distant) render 

Malawi and Republic of South Africa: lu t> -i- _«.• i a- i • j. />.i 

Nonproducers .54 .62 1.16 *" e Brazilian properties relatively expensive in terms of the 

total cost of production. The same is true for the 

Unit Produced w w W undeveloped Indian property, Ranchi-Purulia. 

Nonproducers ........................ .76 .81 1 .57 Only one large-scale rare-earth property, Mountain 

~~ w Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data. Pass, is operating in the United States; consequently, 

operating costs are not disclosed for U.S. producers. Because 

Mining and milling costs are not shown for the Elliot Mountain Pass is an open-pit operation in a hardrock 

Lake, Canada, properties since they would use special leach, deposit, the operating costs are high relative to those for 

solvent extraction, and precipitation techniques to recover heavy mineral sands mining operations; however, the 

REO from a barren uranium solution. Only the costs deposit has a very high grade (12% bastnasite with 6% to 

associated with treating the barren uranium solution were 7% REO content) compared with that of mineral sands 

included in this evaluation. deposits, so that the operating costs in terms of recovered 

The weighted-average mine operating cost for the eight product are relatively low. 
Australian producers is $0.77/mt, which includes three strip The weighted-average costs for the five U.S. non- 
level mines and one open-pit mine averaging $1.91/mt, and producers that are mineral sands deposits (Big Creek, Bear 
four dredge operations averaging $0.48/mt. Since the costs Valley, Gold Fork-Little Valley, Bruswick-Altamaha, and 
are weight-averaged according to annual capacity, they are Oak Grove) are $0.76/mt for mining, $0.81/mt for milling, 
heavily influenced by the low unit costs at the North Strad- These costs are comparable with those for other world prop- 
broke operation of Consolidated Rutile Ltd., which is ex- erties. However, costs of transporting concentrates to ex- 
pected to produce nearly 40 million mt/yr ore by the late isting processing plants for titanium and rare earths would 
1980's. The average mill cost is $0.40/mt for all producers. be sufficiently high, especially in the case of the Idaho 

The five Australian nonproducers that could recover deposits, to place them at a significant disadvantage relative 

byproduct monazite have a weighted-average mining cost to several other world properties. Transportation costs for 

of $0.74/mt, and a milling cost of $0.48/mt ore. These figures the Idaho properties are four to eight times higher than 

are strongly influenced by the costs at Cooloola, which is those for the western Australia properties. Additionally, the 

a past producer that terminated production when the area Big Creek and Gold Fork-Little Valley (Idaho) deposits have 

became part of the Cooloola National Park. All but Jurien multiple landowners, and the actual costs associated with 

Bay-Cooljarloo would be dredge operations. developing a unitized operation are not known. 

REO AVAILABILITY 

Nine of the 38 properties evaluated for this study do or Table 6 shows the distribution of revenues of the various 
could produce REO as the primary product. Five of these commodities that are or could be produced at the proper- 
properties (i.e., the Brazilian properties) would be considered ties evaluated in this study. Revenue figures were based 
to be titanium properties from a revenues standpoint, on January 1984 commodity prices (table 7). Figures for the 
although they are or could be mined for monazite because Elliot Lake, Canada, operations, which would produce REO 
of its thorium content. as a byproduct of uranium processing, are not included in 

Table 6.— Average percentage of revenues by mineral concentrate type 

(Based on January 1984 market prices) 

Country and status Rutile llemite Zircon Monazite Leucoxene Synrutile Other 

and 
bastnasite 



Australia: 


30 

54 


30 

17 


17 
16 


3 
3 


10 
10 


10 







Brazil: 

Nonproducers 


13 

5 


31 
41 


25 
9 


31 
45 














India and Sri Lanka: 


28 

14 


30 
5 


6 

3 


7 
46 


1 



28 




32 


United States: 


19 

12 


7 
24 


17 
16 


49 
14 


8 
16 







18 



10 



Table 7.— Market prices of mineral sand concentrates 
and associates minerals, January 1984 



Commodity 


Where applicable 


Grade, 


Price, 




(f.o.b.) 


% 


$/mt 


Garnet 


Mill 


Abrasive .... 


. $ 10.00 


Ilmenite concentrate . . 


Mill, Australia 


'54+ Ti0 2 . . 


32.00 




Mill, United States 


'54+ Ti0 2 . . 


42.00 


Leucoxene concentrate 


Mill, Western Australia 


87Ti0 2 .... 


225.00 


Magnetite 


Mill 


NAp 


23.00 


Monazite concentrate . 


Mill 


55 REO 


389.00 


Rutile concentrate .... 


Mill 


95 Ti0 2 


347.00 


Synthetic rutile 


Plant, Mobile, AL, 
United States. 


90+ Ti0 2 . . . 


350.00 


Titanium slag 


Sorel, Quebec, 

Canada. 
Richards Bay, Republic 


71 Ti0 2 


159.00 




85 Ti0 2 


181.00 




of South Africa. 






Zircon concentrate . . . 


Mill, Australia 


65 Zr0 2 .... 


104.50 




Mill, United States 


65 Zr0 2 .... 


182.00 



1 Price does vary on Ti0 2 grade (from approximately 47% to 64% Ti0 2 ). 

table 6, as only the marginal costs of REO recovery were 
included in the evaluation. However, Y 2 3 -REO concentrate 
production would account for less than 1% of the total 
revenues from the Elliot Lake operations. 

Only Mountain Pass derives its total revenues from 
REO; therefore, the economic condition of the property is 
singularly dependent on the REO market. Because of the 
byproduct status of monazite, most properties included in 
this evaluation depend largely on the titanium market for 
their economic health. Australian producers on average 
derive only 3% of their revenues from monazite. Similarly, 
Indian and Sri Lankan producers on average derive only 
7% of revenues from monazite. 



TOTAL AVAILABILITY 

Table 8 shows the cumulative total amount of poten- 
tially recoverable REO from all properties evaluated as a 
funtion of DCFROR. Figure 4 shows total potential 
availability by property status (producer and nonproducer), 
categorized by DCFROR range. 

Only 21% (about 705,000 mt) of the total recoverable 
3,355,000 mt REO in all properties evaluated is contained 
in properties that could not realize a positive DCFROR at 
the January 1984 market prices for commodities that are 
or could be produced from those properties. Nearly 77% 
(2,578,000 mt) of total recoverable REO in all properties 
evaluated is contained in producing properties. A logical 
supposition is that the majority of these properties are 
operating because they can consistently produce at a pro- 
fit. A notable exception is the Brazilian operations, which 
are owned by NUCLEMON, a Government entity that has 
motives other than immediate profit or benefit (i.e., the need 
for thorium produced as a result of monazite processing). 

Table 8.— Cumulative total REO potentially available from 
38 evaluated deposits 

(Thousand metric tons) 



DCFROR, % 


Producers 


Nonproducers 


Total 


□ 90 

□ 40 


1,910 
1,965 
2,135 
2,189 
2,526 
702 






35 

65 

126 

1 


1,910 
1,965 


□ 20 


2,170 


□ 10 


2,254 


□ 

• 


2,652 
703 


Total 


3,228 


127 


3,355 



2,000 



(1,910,000) 



800 



700 



600 



E 500 

d 

tt 400 



300 



200- 



100- 



KEY 

Producers 

Y/Z4'\ Nonproducers 




S3 W t~i Lfr"] 




<0 



0-9 



40-89 



>90 



10-19 20-39 

DCFROR, % 
FIGURE 4.— Total recoverable REO, by property status and DCFROR. 



11 



About 126,000 mt, or less than 4% of the total REO in 
all properties analyzed, is contained in nonproducing prop- 
rties that could realize a positve DCFROR. Included here 
are the Silica Mine and Richards Bay properties, which are 
producing operations that are not presently recovering 
monazite but for which the costs of recovering monazite 
were included. 

ANNUAL AVAILABILITY 



Figures 5 and 6 present the amount of REO potentially 
available on an annual basis from producing and nonproduc- 
ing properties at various DCFROR ranges. Since the 
general approach for this study was to evaluate the proper- 
ties at their production capacity over the life of each prop- 
erty, the annual curves present total potential availability 
for each year shown and should not be interpreted as an 
assessment of future supply. 

The total amount of REO potentially available annual- 
ly from all producing properties (fig. 5) ranges from a low 
of 46,500 mt in 1986, to a peak of 51,500 mt in 1988-92, 



and declines to 49,900 mt by the year 2000. The increase 
between 1986 and 1988 is due to planned expansions that 
were included in the evaluation. Of the total amount poten- 
tially available in each year shown, only 6,600 mt is con- 
tained in properties that would not receive at least a 20% 
DCFROR. Total MEC production in 1984 was estimated at 
40,700 mt (table 2). Clearly, the amount of REO potential- 
ly available from producing properties evaluated in this 
study (which represent 98% of total MEC production poten- 
tial) is sufficient to sustain present production levels 
through at least the end of this century. 

Figure 6 shows potential annual availability from non- 
producers on a country basis. Australian and U.S. proper- 
ties that could produce at positive DCFROR's together could 
provide only about 4,000 mt/yr REO through the year 2000. 
U.S. nonproducers evaluated that could not presently 
realize a positive DCFROR could provide 9,500 mt/yr REO 
over the same period; Australian nonproducers in the same 
category could sustain an annual output of 3,700 mt only 
for a few years, after which these properties could provide 
less than 1,000 mt/yr. Nonproducers in India and Malawi 
could account for a combined output of 9,200 mt/yr through 



52 



T 



T 



T 



T 



T 



=>0 % DCFROR 



50 



48 



ro 
O 46 

d 

UJ 



44 



42 



40 



J- 



_L 



10% DCFROR 



T > 20 % DCFROR 



>40% DCFROR 



>90 % DCFROR 



J. 



-L 



1986 



1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 

FIGURE 5.— Cumulative potential annual REO availability, producers. 



1998 



2000 



12 



=>0 % DCFROR 



oo 

- . 10 
o 

UJ 

<r 9 
8 
7 
6 
5 
4 

3 
2 



-r 



United States 



N Year preproductton 
development begins 

KEY 
< % DCFROR 



United States 



Brazil and Canada 



Indio and Malawi 




N+2 



N+6 N+8 

YEAR 



N + 12 



FIGURE 6.— Potential annual REO availability, producers. 

the year 2000. Most of this production (India and Malawi) 
would be from the Ranchi-Purulia deposit in India. 

Obviously, the amount of REO potentially available on 
a total and an annual basis from nonproducers largely 
depends on the number and character of undeveloped 
deposits analyzed for this study. Resource information for 
REO properties worldwide is difficult to obtain, since rare 
earths are used in highly advanced technological applica- 
tions, and historical demand has been relatively small com- 



pared with demand for other mineral commodities. Further- 
more, demand has been fulfilled by a relatively small 
number of properties, most of which (e.g., Australian opera- 
tions) produce small amounts of REO minerals that make 
a relatively insignificant (byproduct) contribution to the 
revenues of titanium operations. Only Mountain Pass is an 
operation that is important as a producer of REO exclusive- 
ly, and it did not become a prominent producer until the 
mid-1960's, when demand for REO began to increase at a 
substantial rate. The industry in many ways can be con- 
sidered to be in its infancy, and demand should continue 
to increase as more uses are found for rare earths that are 
currently in demand, and new applications are developed 
for several that currently have no known commercial uses. 

AVAILABILITY OF INDIVIDUAL REO, 
Y 2 3 , AND Th0 2 

Table 9 shows the total amount of individual REO, Y 2 3 , 
and Th0 2 contained in concentrate from the evaluated prop- 
erties, by country and property status. The figures are on- 
ly approximate, since they were derived using estimated 
average REO, Y 2 03, and Th0 2 grades of monazite and 
bastnasite concentrates. Th0 2 content of monazite from the 
various countries were obtained from a 1971 Bureau report 
(14). Typical Th0 2 content of monazite from important 
sources is 7.0% from Australia, 6.5% from Brazil, and 8.5% 
from India. 

Because of the composition of bastnasite, which, com- 
pared with monazite, contains a higher percentage of the 
light rare earths (lanthanum through europium), U.S. pro- 
ducers (largely Mountain Pass) account for nearly half (48%) 
of total REO in all properties evaluated. U.S. producers ac- 
count for a small percentage of the heavy REO (including 
Y 2 O s ) because bastnasite contains smaller amounts of the 
heavy oxides than monazite, the REO ore mineral in all 
properties evaluated except Mountain Pass. 

The important yttrium-bearing mineral xenotime, 
which contains 60% Y 2 3 , only occurs in economic quan- 
tities in one of the properties evaluated (Capel, Australia). 
Xenotime is produce as a byproduct of tin mining in 
Malaysia and Thailand. Were this evaluation to have in- 
cluded properties that do or could produce xenotime, the 
amount of Y 2 3 potentially available would be somewhat 
larger than the figures shown. 



Table 9.— Individual REO, Y 2 3 , and Th0 2 contained in evaluated properties 

(Metric tons) 1 



Country and status La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb 

Austrslis" 

Producers 59,570 119,140 12,950 49,210 7,770 260 4,400 410 

Nonproducers 10,120 20,240 2,200 8,360 1,320 40 750 70 

Brazil: 

Producers 2,300 4,600 500 1,900 300 10 170 20 

Nonproducers 1,150 2,300 250 950 150 10 90 10 

Canada: Nonproducers .. . 140 140 240 140 310 260 710 260 

India and Sri Lanka: 

Producers 161,000 322,000 35,000 133,000 21,000 700 11,900 1,120 

Nonproducers 26,450 52,900 5,750 21,850 3,450 120 1,960 180 

Malawi and Republic of South 

Africa: Nonproducers . . . 49,220 98,440 10,770 40,660 6,420 210 3,640 340 

United States: 

Producers 498,560 779,000 62,320 202,540 7,790 1,560 2,340 — 

Nonproducers 100,280 200,500 21,800 82,840 13,080 440 7,410 700 

Total 908,790 1,599,320 151,710 541,450 61,590 3,610 33,370 3,110 

bounded to the nearest 10 mt. 



Dy 



Ho 



Er Tm Yb Lu 



Th 



1,300 230 340 30 
220 40 60 — 



50 10 10 — 
30 10 10 — 



160 20 5,180 25,900 
30 — 880 4,400 



10 — 200 1,000 
— — 100 500 



1,420 350 920 120 450 100 9,440 



3,500 630 980 70 
580 100 150 10 



420 40 14,000 70,000 
70 10 2,300 11,500 



1,070 190 280 20 130 10 4,280 21,400 



10 — — — 

2,680 390 570 40 



— — 1,560 230 
260 30 8,720 43,600 



10,860 1,950 3,320 290 1,530 210 46,660 178,530 



13 



CONCLUSIONS 



There are sufficient resources of rare earths in produc- 
ing deposits to sustain present production levels at least 
through the end of the century, and probably well beyond. 
However, because of the byproduct status of monazite from 
several important producing properties, the supply of some 
of these elements depends largely on the titanium market. 
Should the titanium market become unfavorable to heavy 
mineral sands producers, the amount of many of the heavy 
rare earths available for processing could be a matter of 
some concern. 

The availability and supply of the light rare earths, 
which are relatively abundant in the mineral bastnasite, 
are assured because of the Mountain Pass, CA, operation, 
which accounts for about half of total annual world produc- 
tion of REO. The deposit has sufficient resources to last for 
many years and, given favorable future demand, should con- 



tinue to be a viable operation for the forseeable future. 

Production of xenotime provides for additional supplies 
of the heavy rare-earth elements, particularly yttrium, 
which occurs in a concentration of 25% to 30% Y 2 3 in 
xenotime and for which the mineral is recovered. However, 
xenotime recovered as a byproduct of tin mining in 
Malaysia and Thailand presently accounts for a minor 
percentage (probably less than 1%) of total world rare-earth 
production. Consequently, the availability of yttrium 
depends largely on the tin market. However, the recent 
discovery of potentially important yttrium deposits in 
Canada (Thor Lake and Strange Lake), and the possibility 
of recovery of yttrium at the Elliot Lake operations, sug- 
gests that the potential availability of yttrium is reasonably 
assured. 



REFERENCES 



1. Staatz, T. J., T. Armbruster, J. Olson, I. Brownfield, M. Brock, 
J. Lemons, L. Coppa, and B. Clingan. Principal Thorium Resources 
in the United States. U.S. Geol. Surv. Circ. 805, 1979, 42 pp. 

2. Lemons, J. F., and L. Coppa. Mining and Processing Methods 
and Cost Models for the Recovery of Thorium from Domestic Oc- 
curences. U.S. Dep. Energy Rep. GJBX-9K79), May 1979, 68 pp. 

3. Stermole, F. J. Economic Evaluation and Investment Decision 
Methods. Investment Evaluations Corp., Golden, CO, 2d ed., 1974, 
449 pp. 

4. Hedrick, J. B. Rare-Earth Minerals and Metals. Ch. in 
BuMines Minerals Yearbook 1983, v. 1, pp. 713-723. 

5. Griffiths, J. Rare-Earths— Attracting Increasing Attention. 
Ind. Miner., No. 198, Apr. 1984, pp. 19-37. 

6. Moore, C. M. Rare-Earth Elements and Yttrium. Ch. in 
Mineral Facts and Problems, 1980 Edition. BuMines B 671, 1981, 
pp. 737-752. 

7. Rumer, R. Lanthanides (Rare Earths). Eng. and Min. J., v. 
185, No. 3, Mar. 1984, p. 107. 

8. Hedrick, J. B. Rare-Earth Metals. Ch. in BuMines Mineral 
Commodity Summaries, 1982-86. 



9. U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Mines. Principles 
of a Resource/Reserve Classification for Minerals. U.S. Geol. Surv. 
Circ. Circ. 831, 1980, 5 pp. 

10. Subbarao, E. C, and W. E. Wallace (eds.). Science and 
Technology of Rare Earth Materials. Academic, 1980, 147 pp. 

11. Industrial Minerals. Rare Earths Industry Profile and Market 
Review. No. 138, Mar. 1979, p. 31. 

12. Mining Journal (London). Rare-Earth Plant Proposed. V. 304, 
No. 7817, June 14, 1985, p. 427. 

13. Fantel, R. J., D. Buckingham, and D. Sullivan. Titanium 
Minerals Availability— Market Economy Countries. A Minerals 
Availability Program Appraisal. BuMines IC 9061, 1985, 48 pp. 

14. Parker, J. G., and C. T. Baroch. The Rare-Earth Elements, 
Yttrium, and Thorium. A Materials Survey. BuMines IC 8476, 
1971, 92 pp. 

15. Industrial Minerals. India— New Rare-Earth Find. No. 210, 
Mar. 1985, pp. 10-11. 

16. Wall Street Journal. Buttes Says Studies on Colorado Pros- 
pect Indicate Major Deposit of Titanium Ore. Feb. 14, 1976, p. 5. 



14 



APPENDIX.— PROPERTY DESCRIPTIONS 



AUSTRALIA 

In 1984, heavy mineral sands operations in Australia 
produced 9,000 mt REO, second only to Molycorp's Moun- 
tain Pass, CA, operation, whose 25,000 mt of output ac- 
counted for essentially all of U.S. production. Australia is 
the world's largest producer of monazite, which is recovered 
as a byproduct of rutile, ilmenite, and zircon mining from 
beach sand deposits on the east and west coasts of the 
country. 

In recent years, more monazite has been produced on 
the west than the east coast because of increased produc- 
tion of heavy mineral sands from that area. This shift is 
due to a general decline in heavy mineral sands reserves 
on the east coast, environmental legislation that has 
prevented mining of some reserves, and the emergence of 
Allied Eneabba Ltd., now the country's largest heavy 
mineral sands producer, on Australia's west coast. Monazite 
production from the west coast nearly doubled from 1977 
to 1978, accounting for 84% and 98%, respectively, of total 
Australian monazite production in those years (5, p. 20). 

Heavy mineral deposits on Australia's east coast occur 
along 1,700 km of coastline. Five east coast Australian prop- 
erties containing REO were evaluated for this study (fig. 
A-l). They include the past producers Cooloola, Fraser 
Island, and Munmorah, and two producing properties on 
North Stradbroke Island, one owned by Consolidated Rutile 
Ltd. (CRL), the other by Associated Minerals Consolidated 
Inc. (AMC). Together, the five properties contain more than 
37,000 mt recoverable REO, all in monazite. The producers 
recover rutile as the primary titanium product and account 
for more than 14,000 mt recoverable REO. 

It is unlikely that the Fraser Island or Cooloola deposits, 
although past producers, will be exploited again in the near 
future. Mining has been banned from Fraser Island since 
1976, when, because of environmental concerns, the 
Australian Government revoked export licenses for opera- 
tions that produced minerals there. The Cooloola property 
was included within the Cooloola National Park when it 
was formed by legislative decree in 1974. Nevertheless, the 
deposits contain potentially available, recoverable amounts 
of monazite, so the properties were included in this 
evaluation. 

Of the two North Stradbroke Island operations, only the 
one owned by CRL, which has been in production since 1967, 
has produced and marketed monazite. The company first 
reported monazite production in 1980, with recovery of a 
few hundred metric tons. Recovery of monazite has never 
been reported from the AMC operation, and the company 
evidently has no current plans to do so in the future. 

Eight REO-bearing heavy mineral properties on 
Australia's west coast were included in this evaluation (fig. 
A-2): Allied Eneabba, Cable Sands, Capel, Cataby, Eneabba, 
Jurien Bay-Cooljarloo, North Capel, and Yoganup Ex- 
tended. All but Cataby and Jurien Bay-Cooljarloo were pro- 
ducing at the time of this evaluation. Together, the eight 
properties contain about 266,000 mt recoverable REO, of 
which the Allied Eneabba property accounts for more than 
half. The six producers account for nearly 245,000 mt, or 
about 92% of the total recoverable REO in west coast prop- 
erties evaluated. 



Fuser Island 




CORAL SEA 



North Stradbroke Island 



PACIFIC OCEAN 



7 ASM AN SEA 



'Italic numbers in parentheses refer to items in the list of references 
preceding the appendix. 



LEGEND 

State boundary 

State capital 
• City or town 
^ Property 

50 100 

Scale, km 
FIGURE A-1 .—Location map, Australian east coast properties. 



15 



I 



Geraldton 



• Eneabba 
S Entabba 
^ ANM Eneabba 

^ Jurien Bay 

^ Cool|artoo 
^ Cataby 



• Gingin 



©PERTH 



INDIAN OCEAN 



WESTERN 



AUSTRALIA 



Bun bur yi 
Cable Sands 4? 
North Capel £ 
C\_Captl^ "Yoganup 

, Busselton 







LEGEND 




G 


State capital 




• 


City or town 




K 


Property 






I 


50 


100 
1 




Scale, km 





FIGURE A-2.— Location map, Australian west coast properties. 



Allied Eneabba Ltd., affiliated with E. I. du Pont de 
Nemours and Co., Inc., has emerged as an important pro- 
ducer in the world REO market since the mid-1970's. 
Monazite accounts for about 10% of Allied Eneabba's total 
revenue, although it is only 3% of the company's total 
volume. Eneabba undertook a major expansion program at 
its Narngulu dry separation plant at Geraldton, Western 
Australia, in 1980, increasing capacity by 30%. The Allied 
Eneabba operation produced 10,440 mt monazite (nearly 
6,000 mt REO) in 1983. The previous year, only 5,704 mt 
monazite were recovered, indicating the erratic distribu- 
tion of monazite in the deposit. In 1981, reserves in lands 
adjacent to the Eneabba operation were outlined, extending 
the mine's life to 28 years (5, p. 20). 1 

Associated Minerals Consolidated Ltd. (AMC) is the sec- 
ond largest producer of REO minerals in Australia, with 
an annual production of 2,800 mt monazite from its Capel 
and Eneabba operations in Western Australia. The Eneabba 
operation has a capacity of 2,000 mt/yr monazite. Capel 
currently has a capacity of 800 mt/yr, plus a small amount 
(6 to 15 mt/yr) of xenotime (5, p. 21). 

Yoganup Extended (owned by Westralian Sands Ltd.) 
has an annual output of about 2,000 mt monazite, which 
typically constitutes 5% of the heavy mineral concentration 
in the beach sand. The Cable Sands property of Cable Sands 
Pty. Ltd. can produce up to 1,000 mt/yr monazite and 50 
to 60 mt/yr xenotime from beach sands near Koombana Bay 
near Bunbury. Typically, the operation produces between 
500 and 1,000 mt/yr monazite (5, p. 21). 

In spite of its importance as the world's second largest 
REO producer and leading supplier of monazite, Australia 
presently exports all of its production because it has no 
postmill processing facilities. However, Allied Eneabba Ltd. 
recently proposed to construct a plant to recover rare earths 
from concentrate. The plant, to be located at Geraldton, 
Western Australia, would process 12,000 mt/yr monazite 
concentrate and 100 mt/yr xenotime concentrate. Among 
rare earths to be produced are samarium, europium, 
gadolinium, terbium, and yttrium. (12). 



BRAZIL 

Brazil mines heavy mineral sands for its monazite con- 
tent, although from a recovered-value standpoint, the 
titanium minerals are the most valuable constituent. The 
country prohibits the export of monazite because of its 
thorium content, and processes its monazite within the 
country. The industry is controlled by Empresas Nucleares 
Brasileiras S.A. (commonly known as NUCLEBRAS), a 
Government-owned entity that was formed in 1974. Min- 
ing operations are conducted by Nuclebras de Monazita e 
Associados Ltda., known as NUCLEMON, a Government- 
owned subsidiary. 

Brazil's present capacity is 3,000 mt/yr monazite at 
NUCLEMON's processing plant in Sao Paulo. The coun- 
try produced an estimated 2,000 mt monazite concentrate 
in 1984, or approximately 1,100 mt contained REO. Annual 
production of REO has been at approximately this level 
since at least the late 1970's. 

Brazilian properties evaluated for this study include 
Alcobaca, Anchieta, Aracruz, Buena, and Serra (fig. A-3). 
Anchieta and Buena were producing at the time of this 
evaluation. Total recoverable REO in the five properties is 
approximately 15,000 mt. All of the properties are on 
Brazil's Atlantic Ocean coast, where heavy minerals have 
been concentrated in the beach environment. 



16 




LEGEND 
X Property 
€> City or town 



O 100 200 300 

J SOOTH AMERICA 



Scale, km 



FIGURE A-3.— Location map, Brazilian properties. 




MAP LOCATION 



Initial (wet plant) concentration for nonproducers prob- 
ably would be done onsite, as is presently done at the two 
producing operations (Anchieta and Buena). There is a dry 
plant at Guarapari, where concentrate from the wet plant 
at Anchieta, 10 km distant, is processed. The plant was tem- 
porarily closed in January 1982 for expansion. Buena con- 
centrate is processed at a nearby dry plant. 

Development of the Alcobaca property would require 
construction of a dry plant nearby. Concentrate produced 
at Aracruz, another undeveloped deposit, could be 
transported to the dry plant at Guarapari, some 100 km 
distant, as could concentrate from Serra, 60 km from 
Guarapari. For this evaluation, ilmenite and rutile from 
all operations were assumed to be transported to port at 
Vitoria, some 50 km away from the Guarapari dry plant. 
In all cases, monazite and zircon concentrate produced at 
the dry plants are (in the case of Anchieta and Buena) or 
would be transported to Brazil's hydrometallurgical plant 
at Sao Paulo, 800 km from Guarapari. 

In spite of the transportation requirements, and the 
relatively small amount of contained REO in Brazilian prop- 
erties compared with that in other world deposits (e.g., those 
that produce monazite as a byproduct of titanium mining 



in Australia and India), the Brazilian Government appears 
committed to production of monazite, largely because of its 
thorium content. 



CANADA 

Three Canadian properties at Elliot Lake, ON, were 
evaluated for this study (fig. A-4). They include Rio Algom 
Ltd.'s Quirke-Panel and Stanleigh Mines, and the property 
of Denison Mines Ltd., all of which would produce REO and 
Y 2 3 byproducts of uranium processing. Denison Mines first 
started investigating the recovery of Y 2 3 and REO in the 
mid-1960's, and produced a total of about 100 mt from 1974 
through 1976. The plant produced a concentrate that graded 
approximately 40% Y 2 3 and 23% REO. 

Neither company presently has plans to recover REO 
or Y 2 3 , but these commodities were evaluated to determine 
their additional cost of recovery from, and potential 
availability in, the barren solution now produced by the 
uranium operations. 

Highwood Resources Ltd. recently announced the 
discovery of commercially significant quantities of yttrium 



17 




LEGEND 
/%, Property or properties 



200 

l 



400 
I 



600 



800 

l 



Scale, km 



FIGURE A-4.— Location map, Canadian and U.S. properties. 



at its Thor Lake beryllium prospect near Yellowknife, NT. 
On the basis of preliminary assays, it is estimated that the 
deposit contains 3,600 mt Y 2 3 , sufficient to supply current 
world demand for yttrium for about 7 yr. Since informa- 
tion sufficient to perform an evaluation was not available 
at the time of this study, the Thor Lake property was not 
included. 

The Strange Lake deposit, located on the Quebec- 
Newfoundland border in northeastern Canada, was 
discovered in 1979. The deposit occurs within an alkaline 
complex and contains columbium, fluorite, zirconium, 
beryllium, and yttrium-rich rare earths. At the time of this 
evaluation, resource data were insufficiently known to allow 
for detailed analysis. Iron Ore Co. of Canada is pursuing 
further exploration and metallurgical studies on its prop- 
erty, which, if developed, could be an important source of 
Y 2 3 and REO. 



INDIA 

Five Indian properties were evaluated for this study, 
only one of which (Ranchi-Purulia, an undeveloped property) 
has the resources to produce rare earths as the primary 
product. The others, all producers, recover monazite as a 
byproduct of processing titanium minerals. These include 
two properties at Chavara, one at Manavalakuruchi, and 
one at Orissa-Chatrapur (fig. A-5). Together, the five prop- 
erties contain more than 812,000 mt recoverable REO, of 



which more than 85% is contained in the four properties 
that produce monazite as a byproduct of titanium mining. 

The country produced an estimated 2,200 mt REO in 
1984 (table 2), most of which was shipped to the United 
States. Two companies, Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IRE) and 
Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. (KMML), are responsible 
for all Indian production. IRE is a public company operated 
by the Indian Government; KMML is operated by the state 
government of Kerala. India prohibits the export of 
monazite because of its thorium content, based on thorium's 
future use as a nuclear fuel. 

IRE's mines on the west coast of India at Chavara near 
Quilon, and Manavalakuruchi in Tamil Nadu State, ac- 
count for all of that company's monazite production. The 
company's separation plant in Kerala State currently has 
an operating capacity of 4,600 mt/yr rare-earth chlorides, 
78 mt/yr rare-earth fluorides, and SO mt/yr of individual 
REO. About 5,000 mt/yr trisodium phosphate is produced 
as a byproduct. IRE produces four grades of cerium oxide 
(Ce0 2 ) and reportedly has plans to produce yttrium, 
gadolinium, europium, and samarium concentrates. IRE 
produces 110 mt/yr thorium nitrate, small amounts of Th0 2 , 
and thorium pellets. The company recently began testing 
and partial operation of a new processing plant in Orissa, 
with a monazite processing capacity of 4,300 mt/yr. The 
plant will also produce synthetic rutile (5, p. 22; 12). 

KMML's mineral separation plant at Chavara (near 
Quilon in Kerala State) treats heavy mineral sands that 
are recovered from nearby deposits. Monazite constitutes 



18 



A 

ORISSA 

Qrltti-Chitrapur, 

Berhampur ; 




Scale, km 



FIGURE A-5— Location map, Indian and Sri Lankan properties. 



1% of the 18% heavy mineral content of the sand. KMML's 
present production capacity is about 300 mt/yr monazite, 
but the company has plans to establish a new plant with 
a capacity of 1,800 mt/yr monazite by 1987. 

The Ranchi-Purulia deposit, located in Bihar and West 
Bengal States 200 km northwest of Calcutta (not shown in 
fig. A-5), is more than 1,000 km from India's processing 
plants in the southern part of the country. For this evalua- 
tion, it has been assumed that a beneficiation plant (with 
a capacity of more than 5,000 mt/yr REO in a monazite con- 
centrate) would be constructed near the deposit, from which 
five separate concentrates (monazite, ilmenite, rutile, zir- 



con, and sillimanite) would be shipped by rail to port at 
Calcutta, from which the monazite would be shipped for fur- 
ther processing in southern India. 

A new mineral sands deposit containing ilmenite, zir- 
con, garnet, and monazite was recently discovered in the 
coastal beach of the Thanjavar district of India, between 
Sirkali and the mouth of the Cauvery River, near 
Kaveripattenan. Preliminary analyses showed a higher 
mineral content than for the Manavalakuruchi deposit. 
Reserves have not been determined, but it has been reported 
that the deposit's monazite content is at least equal to 
Manavalakuruchi's (15). The property was not included in 
this evaluation owing to the lack of sufficient cost and 
resource data. 



MALAWI 

The Kankankunde deposit, part of the Chilwa car- 
bonatite complex in Malawi, has been under investigation 
since the early 1970's by Lonhro Ltd., the property's cur- 
rent owner. If developed, the property would be mined by 
open pit, treating a relatively high grade monazite ore. High 
iron content of the ore has necessitated special metallurgical 
testing, which resulted in the development of a workable 
process flowsheet in 1982. 

Political problems in neighboring Mozambique, through 
which the monazite concentrate could be shipped, have 
resulted in postponement of the property's development. An 
alternative transportation plan, assumed for this evalua- 
tion, involves transport by truck and rail to port at Dur- 
ban, Republic of South Africa. 



MALAYSIA, SRI LANKA, AND THAILAND 

Malaysia produced about 2,600 mt REO in 1984, near- 
ly all of which was from monazite, with a small amount 
(probably less than 5%) from xenotime, the high-grade yt- 
trium mineral. Malaysian rare-earth production is a 
byproduct of processing the tin mineral cassiterite. Beh 
Minerals Sdn. Bhd. has an ore concentrating plant at Lahar, 
in the State of Perak. Malaysian Rare Earth Corp. Sdn. Bhd. 
(MAREC), a joint venture between Beh Minerals and Mit- 
subishi Chemical Industries Ltd., has produced yttrium con- 
centrate containing 60% Y 2 3 since 1976; present produc- 
tion capacity is 80 mt/yr concentrate. At the time of this 
evaluation, information regarding REO grades of Malay- 
sian tin properties was not available; consequently, no 
Malaysian properties were included in this study. 

Monazite-bearing heavy minerals sands are located in 
Sri Lanka, most notably the Pulmoddai property (fig. A-5), 
which was evaluated for this study. Monazite production 
is a byproduct of titanium mining and is generally quite 
small, although 1982 production rose to 304 mt (5, p. 26). 

Thailand is a potential monazite and xenotime producer 
as a byproduct of recovering tin ore. Thai production is 
generally sporadic, but reached 162 mt monazite and 46 mt 
xenotime in 1982. The country exports mainly to Japan and 
Europe. 



REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA 

At Richards Bay in the Republic of South Africa, 
Richards Bay Minerals recently commissioned a monazite v 
extraction plant to recover the mineral as a byproduct of 



19 



titanium production. At the time of this evaluation (January 
1984), detailed information was not available regarding the 
recovery operation, and the property was classified as a non- 
producer of rare earths. 



UNITED STATES 

U.S. production of REO in bastnasite was 25,311 mt in 
1984, all of which was obtained from Molycorp Inc.'s deposit 
at Mountain Pass, CA (8). Production of REO from monazite 
properties is not readily available but was estimated to be 
on the order of 1,000 mt in 1982 (5, p. 24). U.S. properties 
evaluated for this study include: Mountain Pass, CA; Bear 
Valley, ID; Big Creek, ID; Gold Fork-Little Valley, ID; 
Brunswick-Altamaha, GA; Green Cove Springs, FL; Oak 
Grove, TN; Powderhorn, CO; and Silica Mine, TN (fig. A-4). 
Mountain Pass is the only bastnasite property evaluated, 
and only Mountain Pass and Big Creek have REO as the 
primary product. Only Mountain Pass and Green Cove 
Springs currently produce rare-earth minerals. Silica Mine 
produces only silica sand, although the deposit contains 
recoverable amounts of heavy minerals, including monazite. 

The total amount of recoverable REO from all U.S. prop- 
erties is nearly 2 million mt, of which more than 75% is 
contained in Mountain Pass and nearly 15% in the 
undeveloped Powderhorn deposit in Colorado. 

The Mountain Pass carbonatite reserves have been 
reported to be 36 million mt of ore grading 12% bastnasite 
(5, p. 25). The deposit is the world's largest producer of REO, 
typically accounting for nearly half of total annual world 
production. Molycorp is a fully integrated company, with 
rare-earth processing facilities at York and Washington, 
PA; Louviers, CO; and Mountain Pass, CA. The Mountain 
Pass facility produces three standard bastnasite concen- 
trates grading 60%, 70%, and 85% contained REO. 



Powderhorn is a large carbonatite-alkalic stock complex, 
owned by Buttes Gas and Oil Co., and located in Gunnison 
County, CO. The deposit was reported to contain 419 million 
mt identified resources, of which 271 million mt is 
demonstrated (16). Average grade is 12% Ti0 2 in perovskite, 
which also contains rare earths. Based on the proposed pro- 
duction level of nearly 4 million mt/yr ore, an open-pit opera- 
tion could produce more than 4,500 mt/yr of contained REO. 

Green Cove Springs, the only U.S. producer of monazite 
evaluated in this study, is a mineral sands property that 
was acquired by AMC Ltd., a subsidiary of Renison 
Goldfields Ltd., in 1980. The company also owns the Ene- 
abba and Capel properties in Australia. The Green Cove 
Springs operation had ceased production in 1978 under 
previous ownership by Titanium Enterprises, but monazite 
continued to be recovered from reprocessed tailings until 
mining restarted. The operation has a present capacity of 
700 mt/yr monazite, or 400 mt/yr REO (5, p. 21). 

The Bear Valley, Big Creek, and Gold Fork-Little Valley 
heavy mineral sands properties all occur in the same 
general region of west-central Idaho, adjacent to the Idaho 
batholith, a large igneous intrusion from which the 
minerals were derived. Mineral sands deposits in Long 
Valley and Bear Valley were dredged during the 1950's for 
monazite; ilmenite, garnet, zircon, columbite, and the 
radioactive minerals euxenite and samarskite were also 
recovered. 

Although there are extensive mineral sands deposits in 
the west-central Idaho region, it is unlikely that develop- 
ment will occur in the near future. A portion of the Gold 
Fork property has been inundated by the Cascade reservoir, 
and extensive mining in Bear Valley would be a matter of 
environmental concern owing to its close proximity to a 
wilderness area. Nevertheless, the area was mined in the 
past and contains significant amounts of potentially impor- 
tant rare-earth minerals. 







n V He "*U 














£* <%> o 



*\ *< ,. 



















x<T * 



^ 








/\. -if- , s% . lis • y\ fSI : . sx ~- h 




/••*•% /**&>*' /s&kS ***&*** 







^d* 



„-i°* 



iV 




"ot? 



iOv, 









0> *, 










y ^ 



V^, o 







-0/ 




oHO, 























o5 °^ .1 



1^ ..**•. "^ 






,5°^ 



"o. '♦ 



N 












: /\ -.^^-- ^ v \ \^g/ ^ V : -^P: ^ v \ '.tan.- *-> 





^ 





jp-nk 











V ..... °*„ *•"''• *•' 




^ .ay & • 




















y 



k*""\\* 





™* ,/ W'>* \W V-»V** V™ " / V-§« 
















,/ \z^V v^V v*^V 



o 
o J 


















> v ..-•♦ ^ 









' ^ 



\^\/ %'Wf\<? \"^-/ v^WV v---/ 




. 



— ^ 






Mil 

fill 



111 



MbHSssh 



/ V\ >'l' . l'AJ'^K.'IV I'll! '• M 



mtm 



-fif' 



Wm% Hi 



■iiipi 

m IB 

BBb 

j MlliffiMUlf 






mil 

Hi 
IIH1HB 




HHI 




JHm 



HH| 



SII1B8S8 



